It is our privilege to be organising the EuroPride 2010 in Warsaw, Poland.

Poland prides itself on more than 1,000 years of vivid history and an indisputable place in European culture. Situated between Eastern and Western countries, and partitioned between them from the end of the 19th century until 1918, Poland has always been a country struggling for freedom and independence. Today, liberated from almost half a century of Communist oppression, Poland is now a member of the EU and a nation undergoing economic and social changes.

It was in Poland that Solidarity was born, not just as a trade union that helped topple the Communist system, but also as a social movement whose ideas are still valid in the 21st century. Through its centuries-long struggle for independence, Poland has become part of the human rights tradition.

The first Polish event including representatives of the LGBT community took place on Valentine's Day in 1993, when a handful of gays and lesbians demanded the right to love. Five years later three masked people stood in the same place, demonstrating their presence. Back then nobody even dreamt that an open air LGBT festival could one day be organised in Warsaw one day.

Three years later, on May the 1, 2001, 300 people walked the Warsaw streets in the first Pride Parade. There was only one rainbow flag, and it all happened without much publicity. That was how it all began. Since then, Polish gays and lesbians have taken to the streets every year to manifest their presence. Later, the parade developed and became a Queer Culture Festival. In 2002 there were about 1,000 people marching the streets of Warsaw. Thanks to the support of many organisations from abroad, the event grew still further, and in 2003 more than 4,000 LGBT people and their friends and families took part in the most joyous parade to date. More and more people from other cities and countries would join the Warsaw Pride Parade in years to come.

In 2004 the Parade did not take place, as the Mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński, the recently late president of Poland, didn't allow it, in order, becausee as he put it 'to protect the morality and religious feelings of the inhabitants of the Polish capital'.. Despite protests, the ban was not lifted, and instead of a parade an event was organised that attracted more than 2000 people.

In 2005 the Mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński, again refused to allow a gay pride parade to take place in the city, declaring that such an event would “promote homosexual lifestyle” and that he was against “propagating gay orientation”. Despite this, on June the 11th 2005, approximately 5,000 people marched through the streets of Warsaw in defiance of the ban.

After this, the organisers of the parade brought a court case against the Republic of Poland at the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that their freedom of right to peaceful assembly had been breached and that they had been treated in a discriminatory manner. On May the 3rd of, 2005 the court ruled that by banning the parade, the then Mayor of Warsaw Lech Kaczyński, who then became is now President of Poland, violated three articles of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Since then, we have  celebrated Warsaw Pride every year, with thousands of people from Poland and other countries taking part. The Equality Days events include a film festival, a scientific conference, parties, concerts, art exhibitions, business and political forums, as well as other events.

During EuroPride 2010 we want to affirm the tradition of Christopher Street Day Demonstrations and to celebrate our motto: LIBERTY, EQUALITY, TOLERANCE, thus showing all nations, which still struggle with homophobia that nothing is impossible. And of course, we plan to have a lot of fun while doing this.

With its central location, Warsaw is an ideal place for exploring Poland; it can serve as a starting point for trips to the sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea as well as the Mazurian Lakes or the majestic Tatra mountains. We invite you to take advantage of the many available sight-seeing tours during EuroPride 2010.

the Equality Foundation, organiser of EuroPride 2010